Dr Mahathir’s rant recently on his blog reveals some of his simplistic theories and a lack of regard for the constitution and civil societies in the life of a democracy.

I am sure that the people would want to see a democratic government, a government of the people, by the people, for the people,” said the former prime minister in his blog posting today.

“This sounds great but government by the people will not be so easy. You cannot have the people directly governing themselves.

“You will need to have a new constitution and political parties which will enable representatives of the people to form the government. For this, elections will have to be held. Unfortunately elections can be manipulated,” he added.

A properly functioning democracy arises from the premise that man is corrupt and therefore in any government or office there are limitations to the Executive’s powers.  There are to be clear separation of powers between the executive, the judiciary and the lawmakers.

There is also to be a limit of the number of terms an executive is to serve in most democracies with exception to the parliamentarian system.  

That elections can be manipulated is true in a country where there is little separation of powers and I think he is speaking from personal experience. Having the civil service subservient to the government of the day rather than to the constitution is fuel for a corrupted Elections Commission.

Mahathir also warned against uncertainties if the newly-elected governments fail to fulfil the public’s expectation.

“It is not necessary that the government which replaces the old regime will be free from corruption. The people may have to try to remove the government again and again with no certainty the replacements would be any better,” he said.

In most functioning democracies where there are at least 2 parties, the people have the power of choice.  This power is real and the people are able to use the ballot boxes to vote the parties that represent the majority of the people.   

It is true that a government which replaces an old regime is not necessarily free from corruption but what people want is a functioning democracy where the people have the power of choice rather than having a dictator who has no respect for the constitution of the country.

In fact as I said a democratic government assumes that people are corrupt and needs checks and balances. The key is a constitution respected by all.

“It will not always be the good people who will win to form governments. The idea of people choosing their leaders sounds very democratic but the people may not be savvy as to the quality of the candidates,” said Dr Mahathir.  

“Sectarian loyalties, money and narrow-mindedness may bring instability, economic regression and even anarchy,” he added.

Once again, what Mahathir says here sounds strangely familiar.  Leaving it to the masses to choose their candidates and leaders is always better than allowing a few elite people to choose in assumption that they know what is best for everyone.  

For example the Malay dominant party in the BN chooses 2,000 members to elect their president. This president inevitably becomes the Prime Minister of the nation. 2,000 people have just spoken up for 26 million people. Why do you think sectarian loyalties and money becomes such an issue?

Mahathir also warned that the civil service and the military might have problems adapting to a more democratic system.

“The professional administrators, military and police must learn to be subservient to the elected governments even when they are changed by the electorate through periodic elections,” said Mahathir.

 “Their political affiliations will be private as they will have to serve whichever party forms the government. It is going to be hard. The temptation to seize power will plague the minds of many,” he added.

It will be hard for the military and police and professional administrators to serve the elected government of the day only if they have been kept in the dark ages and have lost all sense of conscience of what is right to do.  

The civil and defence service of any democratic country is there to serve the people through the elected representatives forming the government of the day.  If the constitution is kept in mind there will be no question of the police or military seizing power.

Mahathir in his 22 years of service has ruled from his ivory tower as a paternalistic figure. He thinks he knows what is best for the future of Malaysia and all checks and balances have become secondary to his vision of what is good for the country.  

As a result, today we have a democracy in danger – a civil service that is indiscipline, a government that changes policies at their whims and fancy without planning or consultation with the people.   

We now have an executive with unshackled powers able to command any government department to do whatever they want due to a subservient civil service.  The constitution has been set aside without the people knowing it.

The only way forward for Malaysians is to press for a two party system ensuring the right to choose as that is the power we have in a functioning democracy. A strong alternative to the BN will ensure that checks and balances and respect for the constitution is returned to Malaysia.